Satterfield Pleased With Louisville's Improved Discipline, Effort vs. USF
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The first quarter of the 2022 season for the Louisville football was, largely, one to forget. While they did pull out an impressive at UCF, that was sandwiched between two incredibly disappointing losses at Syracuse and vs. Florida State.
A common theme in all three games, regardless of issues on either side of the ball, was a clear lack of discipline and effort by the Cardinals. They were one of the most penalized teams in college football through week three, there had been moments where the energy and effort on the field was noticeably absent, and big plays were given up on both sides of the ball
This past week against USF, Louisville took a much needed step forward in both departments. It played a huge role in the Cardinals putting together a wire-to-wire blowout, in which they won 41-3 over the Bulls.
"It comes back to us," head coach Scott Satterfield said. "Focus on what we can control which is how we prepare. I thought we did a great job of that last week with being very intentional in how we prepared, so we’ve got to do that again this week."
Heading into the USF game, Louisville had been committing an average of 10 penalties per game, which at the time ranked 126th out of the 131 teams competing at the FBS level. Their biggest issue were false start and offsides pre-snap penalties, as they had committed five in their loss to the Seminoles.
Louisville did a much better job at not committing penalties against USF. They were only flagged for five penalties, with only three of them getting called outside of garbage time. Most importantly, they only committed one pre-snap penalty.
"You can't lose concentration." Satterfield said. "The good news is that most of those penalties (vs. USF) were during the play. That's just playing hard. You're going to have some of those tight penalties. But I think we didn't have as many pre-snap penalties, that was the key."
Adding to that, not only was Louisville playing a much more disciplined brand of football, but they were doing so while also looking much more engaged. There had been times over their first three games, especially against Syracuse and Florida State, where some players were clearly not giving their maximum effort and not playing to their capabilities.
That was not the case against USF, especially on defense. Players were swarming to the ball, gang tackling whenever they could, and also did a good job at not deviating from their assignment. Even on offense, they looked like a more inspired and cohesive unit. Satterfield was extremely pleased that Louisville played a game in which there were minimal instances of guys giving up midway through a play.
"To me, that’s the biggest thing, just focusing in each and every play," he said. "You can't take a play off. One play and you do the wrong thing, and all of the sudden it's a big play and we don’t look good. It all fits like a puzzle, and everybody has to be on point with their assignment."
In the end, USF looked completely and totally overwhelmed. A team that was on the brink of upsetting Florida at The Swamp just the week before, was held to three points, 158 total yards, and only five plays that went farther than ten yards.
Of course, Louisville was already predicted to win big in this game even with their struggles up to that point, as they entered the matchup as a 14.5-point favorite. The only thing that most programs can take away from playing an opponent that is clearly overmatched, is if the team still approaches their competition like they are playing someone of a much higher caliber. The Cardinals passed this test with flying colors.
It's a good thing they did, because the competition only gets tougher from here on out. Louisville is in line to not only resume ACC play this weekend when they take on Boston College, but head back on the road in the process.
Sure, things have not gone the Eagles' (1-3, 0-2 ACC) way so far this season, but discipline and effort will still be tantamount to coming out with a road conference win. Satterfield is hoping the improved showing in both departments against USF - especially on the penalty front - will serve as springboard as they prepare for BC, and other teams later on down the line.
"We have things that we are doing in practice that we talked about," he said. "If you have those penalties, you’re going to run after practice just to try to keep them focused and know what we have to do because it is so huge and critical in games.
"We have seen how much it hurts us when we do those things. We just keep harping on it and hopefully we continue to learn that way because we are going to be a better team if we don’t have those penalties."
Kickoff against the Eagles is set for Saturday, Oct. 1 at 12:00 p.m. EST.
(Photo via Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)
You can follow Louisville Report for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:
Facebook - @LouisvilleReport
Twitter - @UofLReport
Instagram - @louisville_report
You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter
